Automatic voice call connection service method using personal phone book databse constructed through voice recognition

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is an automatic voice call connection service method using a personal phone book database constructed through voice recognition, which includes the steps of allocating personal databases corresponding to phone number to each service user; storing name text, speaker verification feature, speaker-dependent voice recognition name feature and called phone number to the personal database; extracting the speaker verification feature when the speaker requires a phone call and then sending the feature to a voice recognition server/database; verifying the speaker with the feature and searching a name text and a called phone number with the speaker-dependent voice recognition name feature; checking the searched name text and sending the text as a voice to the user; and connecting the call through a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to an automatic voice callconnection service method which constructs a personal phone bookdatabase in a wired communication network by using a phone or Internet,and then automatically connects a wired telephone user to a called phonenumber just if the user speaks a name of the called registered in thepersonal phone book database. This method realizes an automatic voicecall connection service using a personal phone book by using a voicerecognition technology for speaker verification, a speaker-dependentvoice recognition technology, an intelligent network technologysupporting CCS-N07 signaling and a packet network technology supportinga real time service. The automatic voice call connection service methodenables a user to make an automatic call connection through a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN) at any time and at any place.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] When memorizing phone numbers, wired phone users generally use apaper notebook or a storage area of a cellular phone. But, the users maysuffer inconvenience when these paper notebook and cellular phone arenot carried or lost.

[0003] To solve such inconvenience, there is provided a method ofmounting a voice recognition chip in the wired phone. In this method,when a user speaks a name in a voice, the wired phone searches a calledphone number corresponding to the name from a database constructed inthe phone and then sends MFC signals of the called phone number to alocal telephone exchange so as to connect a call. This method howeverrequires a lot of costs to construct a voice recognition module in thephone. In addition, this method is inconvenient to manage a personaldatabase and very inefficient for a user to use.

[0004] There is also a method that, with a voice recognition chipinstalled in a wired phone, when a user speaks a name in a voice, aphone searches a called phone number from a PC or a database serverconnected to the phone and then sends MFC signals of the called phonenumber to a local telephone exchange so as to connect a call. Thismethod gives easier management of a personal database. But, this methodstill has problems since there are required a lot of costs forconstruction of a voice recognition module and additional devices forconnection to the information storage device. In addition, this methodis not so efficient to use.

[0005] As an alternative, there is a case that a voice recognitionmodule, a voice guidance device and a voice recognition database arebuilt in a public switched telephone network (PSTN). In this case, whena user speaks a name in a voice through a wired telephone, an exchangesearches a phone number corresponding to the name and then connects acall. This method needs to construct the voice recognition module in theexchange to use a personal phone number connection function. But, sincethis method does not provide a speaker identification process to users,the users should input password numbers to the exchange for useridentification. In addition, when providing such service to numeroususers, this method shows problems in construction costs, networkcapacity, real time processing ability and so on.

[0006] Thus, the above-mentioned conventional methods have seriousproblems in view of costs, technique and convenience.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

[0007] The present invention is designed to overcome such problems ofthe prior art. An object of the invention is to provide an automaticvoice call connection service method which construct a personal phonebook with personal information files related to a calling phone number,a name text, a speaker verification feature, a speaker-dependent voicerecognition name feature and a called phone number corresponding to aname by using a telephone so that a user may conveniently make a phonecall to the called phone number registered in the personal phone bookwith a voice at any place and at any time by using a voice recognitiontechnology through an intelligent network, a packet network and a PSTN.

[0008] In order to accomplish the above object, the present inventionprovides an automatic voice call connection service method using apersonal phone book DB, which includes the steps of allocating apersonal storage area in the personal phone book DB corresponding to apersonal phone number to each service user; storing a name text, aspeaker verification feature, a speaker-dependent voice recognition namefeature and a called phone number, which are obtained on the basis of aspoken name and a pushed called phone number from the service user, tothe personal storage area by using a calling phone number as a key; whenthe user inputs a called name in a voice to request a call connection toa called phone number, extracting a speaker verification feature and aspeaker-dependent voice recognition name feature from the voice of theuser with a voice guidance and voice feature extracting device and thensending the features to a voice recognition server together with acalling phone number obtained from a local exchange; verifying the userwith the extracted speaker verification feature and searching a nametext and a called phone number corresponding to the extractedspeaker-dependent voice recognition name feature from the personal phonebook DB by using the voice recognition server; sending the searched nametext to the voice guidance and voice feature extracting device so thatthe voice guidance and voice feature extracting device searches eachsyllable of the name text from a name syllable DB to generate the namein a voice, and sending the name in a voice to the calling phone so thatthe user confirm the called name; the voice recognition servertransmitting the sent calling phone number and the searched called phonenumber to a service control point (SCP) of an intelligent network afterthe confirmation step; and the service control point (SCP) of anintelligent network controlling call connection by using the callingphone number and the called phone number.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] These and other features, aspects, and advantages of preferredembodiments of the present invention will be more fully described in thefollowing detailed description, taken accompanying drawings. In thedrawings:

[0010]FIG. 1 is a block diagram exemplarily showing a network system towhich the present invention is applied;

[0011]FIG. 2 is a flow chart for illustrating an example of a calledphone number connecting process of the automatic voice call connectionservice method according to the present invention;

[0012]FIG. 3 is a flow chart for illustrating an example of a calledphone number registration process of the automatic voice call connectionservice method according to the present invention; and

[0013]FIGS. 4a and 4 b show personal information files stored in apersonal phone book DB connected to a voice recognition server and theirdata structure, as an example.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0014] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention willbe described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG.1 is an example of interconnections among a voice guidance and voicefeature extracting device, a voice recognition server, a packet networkor Internet, and an intelligent network in the public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) to which the present invention is applied.

[0015] In this circumstance on PSTN, a personal phone book for each useris configured with information input through a telephone or Internet andstored in a personal phone number DB 41 connected to a voice recognitionserver 40. The user registers a called phone number in the personalphone number DB 41 and the user may use this registered called phonenumber in order to make a convenient automatic call to the called phonenumber through PSTN.

[0016] An automatic voice call connection service provided by thepresent invention is as follows. At first a user picks up a telephonereceiver. Then, the user inputs a service identification number or waitsfor 5 seconds in case of a warm line or pushes an abbreviated dialingnumber corresponding to a service identification number and then anasterisk shortcut key. Then, the user hears a voice guidance “please,speak a called name”, and then speaks a called name. The user then hearsa voice guidance to confirm that the name is correct. If the name iscorrect, the user waits for several seconds to hear a ring-back tone asa sign for acknowledging that a call connection to the called is beingattempted.

[0017] In the above process, the service identification number, which isdirectly input by the user or automatically input through theabbreviated dialing number or the warm line, is interpreted by a callinglocal exchange 10 to open a voice speech path 62 connected to a voiceguidance and voice feature extracting device 30. The voice guidance andvoice feature extracting device 30 requests and receives a calling phonenumber from the local exchange and then sends a voice guidance such as“please, speak a called name.” to the user. The voice guidance starts atthe starting point defined as ‘Zero_Start’.

[0018] If the user speaks a called name, the voice guidance and voicefeature extracting device 30 extracts a speaker verification feature anda speaker-dependent voice recognition name feature from the spoken name.The voice guidance and voice feature extracting device 30 then sendsthese features through a packet network or Internet network 66 to thevoice recognition server 40 together with the calling phone number whichis obtained from the calling local exchange 10.

[0019] The voice recognition server 40 then searches the personal phonebook DB 41. At this time, the voice recognition server 40 uses thecalling phone number as a key to search a specific area in the DB 41allocated to the calling phone number. The voice recognition server 40uses the speaker verification voice feature to verify that the user hasa proper right to use the calling phone number. And then, the voicerecognition server 40 finds out a name text and a called phone numberhaving a feature corresponding to the speaker-dependent voicerecognition feature from the personal phone book DB 41.

[0020] The voice recognition server 40 then sends back the searched nametext to the voice guidance and voice feature extracting device 30. Thevoice guidance and voice feature extracting device 30 searches eachsyllable of the name text from a name syllable DB (not shown) and thengenerates the name in a voice. The user hears the generated name andconfirms whether the name is correct. If the name is confirmed to becorrect, the voice recognition server 40 transmits the obtained calledphone number and calling phone number to a service control point 50 ofan intelligent network 64 through a private telecommunication channel68.

[0021] The intelligent network service control point 50 controls thecalling local exchange 10 and the called local exchange 20 by using thereceived calling phone number and called phone number through theintelligent network 64, and then sends ringing tones to the callingphone 11 and the called phone 21. As soon as the called picks up areceiver of the called phone 21, the intelligent network service controlpoint 50 makes a call connection through the PSTN 60 and manages a callstart time. If the call connection is broken, the calling local exchange10 reports a call end time to the intelligent network service controlpoint 50 so that the intelligent network service control point 50 maygenerate telephone charge data.

[0022] To store personal information in the personal phone book DB 41,the present invention may use two different ways. Firstly, after makinga personal data by using a voice recognition feature extracting softwareprovided through Internet, a user may register the data to the personalphone book DB 41 of the voice recognition server 40 in a bundle onInternet through a suitable verification process. Secondly, by using aphone, a user may input a service identification number and then input aname and a called phone number related to the called name according to aguidance message.

[0023] In the second way, after inputting the service identificationnumber, the user inputs a name 2 or 3 times according to a guidance ofthe voice guidance and voice feature extracting device 30 and theninputs a called phone number corresponding to the name. Then the voiceguidance and the voice feature extracting device 30 extracts a speakerverification feature and a speaker-dependent voice recognition namefeature. Then, operating personnel checks a name text extracted using aspeaker-independent voice recognition technology, and the name text issent to and stored in the personal phone book DB 41 of the voicerecognition server 40 together with the calling phone number and thecalled phone number. The stored name text and called phone number areagain sent to the voice guidance and voice feature extracting device 30.The voice guidance and voice feature extracting device 30 then searcheseach syllable of the name text from the name syllable DB (not shown) andthen generates the name in a voice. The voice guidance and voice featureextracting device 30 then sends the generated name voice to the user sothat the user confirms whether the name is correct. The above processesare repeated as much as the user requires to build the personal phonenumber DB 41.

[0024]FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an example of a called phone numberconnecting process in the automatic voice call connection service methodaccording to the present invention.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 2, in the automatic voice call connectionservice of the present invention, the user waits for 5 seconds in caseof a warm line or pushes an abbreviated dialing number corresponding toa service identification number or pushes the service identificationnumber to make a call to a called phone number corresponding to a namein the user information files stored in the personal phone book DB 41 ofthe voice recognition server 40 (step 200). Then, the calling localexchange 10 connects the calling phone 11 to the voice guidance andvoice feature extracting device 30 (step 202). The voice guidance andvoice feature extracting device 30 then sends a voice guidance messageadvising the user to tell a called name (step 204). If the user speaks acalled name in a voice, the voice guidance and voice feature extractingdevice 30 extracts a speaker verification feature and aspeaker-dependent voice recognition name feature, and then sends thespeaker verification feature and the speaker-dependent voice recognitionname feature to the voice recognition server 40 connected to thepersonal phone book DB 41 together with a calling phone number obtainedfrom the calling local exchange 10 (step 206). The voice recognitionserver 40 searches an area of the personal phone book DB 41 allocated tothe user by using a received calling phone number as a key to find out acalled phone number and a name text corresponding to thespeaker-dependent voice recognition name feature after the speakerverification process using the speaker verification feature (step 208).The name text corresponding to the extracted called phone number is sentto the voice guidance and voice feature extracting device 30. The voiceguidance and voice feature extracting device 30 then searches eachsyllable of the name text from the name syllable DB (not shown) andgenerates the name in a voice so that the user may confirm whether thename is correct (step 210). Then, the voice guidance and voice featureextracting device 30 sends the extracted called phone number and callingphone number to the intelligent network service control point 50 inorder to request a call connection (step 212). Then, the intelligentnetwork service control point 50 controls the call so that the callingphone 11 is connected to the called phone 21 (step 214).

[0026]FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an example of a personal phonenumber registration process in the automatic voice call connectionservice method of the present invention.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 3, a user at first pushes a serviceidentification number to build the personal phone book DB 41 allocatedto the user (step 300). If the user pushes the service identificationnumber, the calling local exchange 10 connects the calling phone 11 tothe voice guidance and voice feature extracting device 30 through thevoice speech path 62 (step 302). The voice guidance and voice featureextracting device 30 requests and obtains a calling phone number fromthe calling local exchange 10 and then sends a guidance message “Please,speak a called name.” to the user so that the user speaks a called namethrough the calling phone 11 (step 304). Also, the voice guidance andvoice feature extracting device 30 sends a guidance message “Please,input a called phone number.” to the user so that the user input acalled phone number (step 304). The voice guidance and voice featureextracting device 30 then extracts a speaker verification feature and aspeaker-dependent voice recognition name feature from the spoken nameand then sends a name text, extracted using a speaker-independent voicerecognition technology and checked by operating personnel, to the voicerecognition server 40 together with the calling phone number and thecalled phone number (step 306). The voice recognition server 40 thenconstructs the personal phone book DB 41 as shown in FIGS. 4a and 4 b(step 308). After the personal phone book DB 41 is constructed, thestored information is checked by the user in the step 310. In the calledname confirmation step (step 310), the extracted name text and thecalled phone number are sent back to the voice guidance and voicefeature extracting device 30, and the voice guidance and voice featureextracting device 30 searches each syllable of the name text from thename syllable DB (not shown) and generates the name in a voice so thatthe user may confirm whether the name is correct (step 310). If the nameis not confirmed, the user is requested to speak the called name againthrough the steps 304˜310. However, if the name is confirmed to becorrect, a message informing that the called is correctly registered issent to the user (step 312) and the registration process for the calledis completed. Then, if the user has more called to be registered (YES inthe step 314), the registration process (from the step 304 to the step312) is repeated as much as the user desires. If the registrationprocess for all the called is completed and it is determined that thereis no called information input (NO in the step 314), a call connectionbetween the calling phone 11 and the voice guidance and voice featureextracting device 30 is disconnected (step 316).

[0028] In the called information registration process, the user can beprovided with software having functions of the voice guidance and voicefeature extracting device 30 and the voice recognition server 40 throughInternet so that the user may configure and store the calling phonenumber, the name text, the speaker verification feature, thespeaker-dependent voice recognition name feature and the called phonenumber in a bundle through Internet.

[0029]FIGS. 4a and 4 b show an example of personal information filesconfiguring the personal phone book DB 41 in the automatic voice callconnection service method of the present invention.

[0030] As shown in FIGS. 4a and 4 b, a lot of speaker verificationfeatures can be registered to one calling phone number. For example, allfamily members uses a phone in common, the verification features can beregistered as much as the number of the family members. In addition, aplurality of name texts and speaker-dependent voice recognition namefeatures can be registered to one speaker verification feature. Forexample, one member of a family may register many called as much asdesired. Also, a plurality of called phone numbers can be registered toone name text and its corresponding speaker-dependent voice recognitionname feature. For example, the user may register house phone number,office phone number and cellular phone number for one called name. Inother words, the personal phone number DB 41 is constructed to store thecalling phone number, the speaker verification feature, the name text,the speaker-dependent voice recognition name feature and the calledphone number by using the calling phone number, obtained from thecalling local exchange 10 as a key.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0031] As described above, the method of the present invention mayconstruct and operate the automatic voice call connection service usingthe personal phone book database with more excellent real time serviceprocessing ability and economical efficiency than the prior art byassociating various technologies and networks which enables a user toconveniently and quickly use the voice call service in a wiredtelecommunication.

[0032] The present invention has been described in detail. However, itshould be understood that the detailed description and specificexamples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, aregiven by way of illustration only, since various changes andmodifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

What is claimed is:
 1. An automatic voice call connection service methodusing a personal phone book DB comprising the steps of: (a) allocating apersonal storage area in the personal phone book DB corresponding to apersonal phone number to each service user; (b) storing a name text, aspeaker verification feature, a speaker-dependent voice recognition namefeature and a called phone number, which are obtained on the basis of aspoken name and a pushed called phone number from the service user, tothe personal storage area by using a calling phone number as a key; (c)when the user inputs a called name in a voice to request a callconnection to a called phone number, extracting a speaker verificationfeature and a speaker-dependent voice recognition name feature from thevoice of the user with a voice guidance and voice feature extractingdevice and then sending the features to a voice recognition servertogether with a calling phone number obtained from a local exchange; (d)verifying the user with the extracted speaker verification feature andsearching a name text and a called phone number corresponding to theextracted speaker-dependent voice recognition name feature from thepersonal phone book DB by using the voice recognition server; (e)sending the searched name text to the voice guidance and voice featureextracting device so that the voice guidance and voice featureextracting device searches each syllable of the name text from a namesyllable DB to generate the name in a voice, and sending the name in avoice to the calling phone so that the user confirm the called name; (f)the voice recognition server transmitting the sent calling phone numberand the searched called phone number to an intelligent network servicecontrol point after the conformation step (e); and (g) the intelligentnetwork service control point connecting a call by using the callingphone number and the called phone number.
 2. The automatic voice callconnection service method according to claim 1, wherein, to constructthe personal phone book DB, the step (b) includes the steps of: (h) thevoice guidance and voice feature extracting device requesting andobtaining the calling phone number from the calling local exchange; (i)the voice guidance and voice feature extracting device extracting thespeaker verification feature and the speaker-dependent voice recognitionname feature from the name spoken by the user; (j1) the voice guidanceand voice feature extracting device obtaining the name text byextracting a text of the spoken name with a speaker-independent voicerecognition technology and checking the text by operating personnel; (k)transmitting the calling phone number, the speaker verification feature,the speaker-dependent voice recognition name feature, the name text andthe called phone number, obtained in the above steps, to the voicerecognition server through a packet network or Internet; (l)transmitting the name text and the called phone number from the voicerecognition server to the voice guidance and voice feature extractingdevice so that the voice guidance and voice feature extracting devicesends the name to the user for confirmation; and (m) storing the callingphone number, the name text, the speaker verification feature, thespeaker-dependent voice recognition name feature and the called phonenumber in the personal storage area of the personal phone book DB byusing the calling phone number as a key.
 3. The automatic voice callconnection service method according to claim 1, wherein, to constructthe personal phone book DB, the step (b) includes the steps of: (h) thevoice guidance and voice feature extracting device requesting andobtaining the calling phone number from the calling local exchange; (i)the voice guidance and voice feature extracting device extracting thespeaker verification feature and the speaker-dependent voice recognitionname feature from the name spoken by the user; (j2) the user accessing aserver provided with a voice recognition feature extracting software andthen constructing the personal phone number DB in a bundle; (k)transmitting the calling phone number, the speaker verification feature,the speaker-dependent voice recognition name feature, the name text andthe called phone number, obtained in the above steps, to the voicerecognition server through a packet network or Internet; (l)transmitting the name text and the called phone number from the voicerecognition server to the voice guidance and voice feature extractingdevice so that the voice guidance and voice feature extracting devicesends the name to the user for confirmation; and (m) storing the callingphone number, the name text, the speaker verification feature, thespeaker-dependent voice recognition name feature and the called phonenumber in the personal storage area of the personal phone book DB byusing the calling phone number as a key.
 4. The automatic voice callconnection service method according to claim 1, wherein, in the step(c), the service identification number is input by using any of thefollowing types: a warm line type in which the local exchange directlyconnects a calling phone to the voice guidance and voice featureextracting device when a user picks up a receiver of the calling phoneand waits for about 5 seconds; an abbreviated dialing type in which,when a user pushes an abbreviated dialing number, the local exchangeinterprets the abbreviated dialing number to connect the calling phoneto the voice guidance and voice feature extracting device; and a serviceidentification number pushing type in which a user directly pushes theservice identification number with a calling phone.
 5. The automaticvoice call connection service method according to any of claims 1 to 4,wherein, to make a call connection with a voice, the step (c) includesthe steps of: (n) the voice guidance and voice feature extracting devicerequesting and obtaining the calling phone number from the calling localexchange; (o) the voice guidance and voice feature extracting deviceextracting the speaker verification feature and the speaker-dependentvoice recognition name feature from the name spoken by the user; and (p)transmitting the calling phone number, the speaker verification featureand the speaker-dependent voice recognition name feature, obtained inthe above steps, to the voice recognition server through the packetnetwork or Internet.
 6. The automatic voice call connection servicemethod according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein, to treat the searchedinformation by using the received calling phone number as a key in thesteps (d) and (e), the steps (d) and (e) includes the steps of: (q) thevoice recognition server verifying the user by comparing the speakerverification feature extracted in the step (c) with the speakerverification feature stored in the personal phone book DB; (r) the voicerecognition server transmitting the name text searched in the step (d)to the voice guidance and voice feature extracting device so as todetermine whether the name is correct; and (s) the voice recognitionserver searching the called phone number by comparing thespeaker-dependent voice recognition name feature extracted in the step(c) with the speaker-dependent voice recognition name feature stored inthe personal phone book DB.
 7. The automatic voice call connectionservice method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the step (f)includes the step of: (t) the voice recognition server converting thecalling phone number and the called phone number, obtained in the steps(c) and (d), into an intelligent network service requesting message andsending the message to the intelligent network service control pointthrough the packet network.
 8. The automatic voice call connectionservice method according to claim 1, wherein the step (g) includes thestep of: (u) the intelligent network service control point controllingthe calling local exchange by using the calling phone number received ina converted form of a service request message and controlling the calledlocal exchange by using the called phone number.